[Epoch Times, July 15, 2021]Recently, Cubans suddenly broke out nationwide demonstrations, demanding freedom, food and medicine. This reminds me of a joke that President Reagan once told. The joke is that one day the Cuban dictator Castro was speaking, and the people below listened silently, when suddenly a vendor shouted: popcorn, popcorn. Castro was very angry, and asked who was calling, but no one dared to speak. Castro was proud, he said, if anyone yells like this again, I will kick him to Miami. As a result, everyone in the audience shouted: Popcorn, popcorn!
President Reagan’s joke illustrates the Cuban people’s aversion to the Cuban communist dictatorship and their yearning for a democratic and free United States. In history, the Cuban people have fought against each other many times. Last Sunday, there was another nationwide demonstration in Cuba. From the capital Havana to Santiago, thousands of Cubans took to the streets to participate in demonstrations on Sunday, the largest anti-government protest in Cuba in decades. They held the slogan “Save Cuba” in their hands, calling for “freedom” and “Down with the dictatorship”, and a wave of people surged in the streets. Many Cubans, especially young people, demonstrated for the first time in their lives.
Cuba is a dictatorship ruled by the Communist Party. For decades, it has been the enemy of the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. It has strictly monitored and suppressed the people. Such a sudden change, large-scale and widespread public demonstrations, is quite unusual. This demonstration took the same path as Hong Kong people’s “water”. It used social media to transmit information and live broadcasts. There was no leader or organizer, but the appeal was the same. Last Sunday, there were 40 demonstrations scattered all over the country.
The Cuban people have lived under the iron-fisted rule of the Cuban Communist Party for many years. This time the people were able to overcome their fears and come out because the Cuban economy was so bad that the people couldn’t bear it. Cuba, whose economy is already very backward, mainly depends on tourism for its livelihood. But last year, their eldest brother, the CCP, spread the CCP virus to the world, causing most countries in the world to close their doors and ban tourism, thus destroying Cuba’s tourism industry. Cuba is now extremely scarce of inflation, power outages, food, medicine, and basic living supplies. The people are not afraid of death, but how can they be afraid of death. The people finally came out to fight.
Will this protest trigger another wave of Cubans fleeing to the United States? The Cuban people, who have lived under the dictatorship for a long time, have had many waves of fleeing. In the 1980s, thousands of Cubans once occupied the Peruvian Embassy in Havana, and finally Castro had to allow them to leave Cuba under international pressure. Therefore, about 125,000 Cubans were overcrowded. The ship fled to Florida, USA. This was the biggest escape incident in Cuba, and it was called the “Mariel Smuggling Incident,” and Marel was the port where the ship departed. In 1994, when thousands of Cubans took to the streets to protest the difficult living conditions, Castro once again opened the valve of mass escape to relieve pressure. At that time, about 33,000 Cubans immediately fled to Florida on a homemade raft, and the incident was also known as the raft drifter crisis.
Will the large-scale anti-government protests in Cuba once again spawn Cubans into the sea of anger? Very likely. But the most likely thing is that the Cuban communist dictatorship will collapse and the Cuban people will gain true freedom in their own country.
Editor in charge: Wen Fang
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